Blues

The avalanche danger remains low in our area mountains. Normal springtime travel precautions should be taken. Avoid steep south-facing terrain in the afternoon and stay far back from cornice edges. A fall on a steep slope containing firm snow could end up turning into a fast, uncontrollable, and consequential slide.

Forecast presented by @onxbackcountry. onX Backcountry is a GPS navigation and mapping tool designed with your backcountry objectives in mind, equipped with Avalanche Forecast and Slope Angle layers, Offline Maps and more.

We have been in a fairly benign springtime weather pattern with hard nighttime freezes at upper elevations and little in the way of precipitation. However, last night with the increasing cloud cover temperatures remained above freezing in the Blues. This likely kept the snowpack from having any significant refreeze. The freezing level is hovering between 5500' to 6000'. The weak storm system impacting our area this morning will bring a light rain to the Blue Mountains. Only a trace of precipitation is expected. This storm system will dissipate throughout the day with gradually clearing conditions. Winds will increase with frontal passage this morning and ridgetop winds are forecast to be out of the west at 15-20 mph.

The lack of a significant refreeze last night means the snow surface will be soft and in some places may be unsupportable. If you find when you step off your sled or skis you are sinking in around your boot tops this should have you considering avoiding slopes > 35 degrees. This means getting off and out from under steep slopes in the afternoon (especially south-facing slopes if the sun pokes out) and giving overhanging cornice edges wide berth. The relatively warm springtime temperatures can weaken cornices, causing them to fail with the added extra weight of a human. Keep in mind that cornices tend to break further back from slope edges than you might think.